A jarring scene at Wrigley Field, but the better team earned the division title

Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune

The Brewers celebrate as Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo leaves the field after making the final out of the Cubs' 3-1 loss Monday at Wrigley Field.

The Brewers celebrate as Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo leaves the field after making the final out of the Cubs' 3-1 loss Monday at Wrigley Field. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

David HaughChicago Tribune

A jarring scene unfolded Monday at Wrigley Field as the Brewers celebrated their National League Central title by throwing their gloves in the air, hugging one another and forming a circle of euphoria near the pitcher’s mound.

Even an hour after beating the Cubs 3-1 in Game No. 163, Brewers players and their families posed for posterity as they lingered along the first-base line.

The Brewers looked happy and hungry for more, not unlike the 2015 Cubs once did before their maiden playoff voyage. They looked triumphant.

In stark contrast, the Cubs just look tired, their body language screaming for a break they won’t get after losing what amounted to the division championship game.

Except the Brewers never budged. Milwaukee’s best was too good for the Cubs. The better team earned the division title.

Regardless of any lazy, local narrative that suggests otherwise, the Brewers won the division more than the Cubs lost it, going 19-7 in September and staying hot on the first day of October. The Cubs did what they could by winning four of their final five series of the regular season, going 16-12 over the final month, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Brewers from overcoming a five-game deficit at Labor Day.

“Give them credit,’’ said Maddon, who will receive his share of blame for the Cubs finishing second. “That’s a good team.’’

Out of habit, go ahead and nitpick the way Maddon manipulated his pitching staff in another big game because he lost the benefit of the doubt on bullpen matters a long time ago. Complain about the overall quality of the six Cubs relievers Maddon used in comparison to their Brewers counterparts and everybody in baseball will nod in agreement. But reserve most of your rancor, Cubs fans, for the hitters who stopped hitting, a chronic problem that should curb any enthusiasm about the playoffs.

The Cubs managed three measly hits against the Brewers, one a 429-foot home run to Anthony Rizzo. If the Cubs bats remain in storage ‪Tuesday night‬ in the wild-card game suddenly thrust on Wrigleyville, then the offseason will ‪start Wednesday‬.

“We didn’t have great at-bats,’’ Maddon said. “We weren’t stinging the ball. The consistent hard contact just hasn’t been there. We’ve got to find it, quickly. I don’t have any real solid answers.’’

Meanwhile, the questions mount for the Cubs. What has happened to the Cubs’ plate approach under hitting coach Chili Davis? How can a team look so aggressive offensively one day and so anemic the next? Will all that change in the playoffs, where the pitching only gets tougher?

In the playoffs, the Cubs could see the same Brewers bullpen that shut them down as early as Thursday. By then, lethal lefty Josh Hader should be rested along with every other Brewers reliever.

Hader happened to the Cubs, striking out three in the final two innings with wicked stuff. Drama built as Rizzo, the last left-handed hitter to homer off Hader, batted in the ninth with a runner aboard, but he flied out to right to set off the celebration of visitors making themselves at home.

“You let it set in a couple minutes and it’s sucks,’’ Rizzo said. “It was hard-fought, but we just fell short.’’

Cubs starter Jose Quintana did his job well enough — he gave up six hits and one run in five innings — to go longer. Bowing to the metrics that show how much Quintana struggles a third time through the order, Maddon pulled the lefty after he gave up a leadoff single in the sixth to Christian Yelich on his 64th pitch.

Earlier, in the third inning, Maddon welcomed every second-guesser into October by deciding to pitch to Yelich, the National League’s most dangerous hitter, with two outs and a runner on third. Before the game, Maddon called the numbers Yelich had posted lately “cartoonish.’’ Yelich arrived with a sizzling .385/.652/.1.462 slash line in the previous seven days — hot enough to ignore the slugger’s 1-for-11 career mark against Quintana.

“It’s Khalil Mack on defense — where is he?’’ Maddon asked in a nod to the Bears outside linebacker.

Yet Maddon still allowed Quintana to face Yelich with first base open and Brewers slugger Ryan Braun up next. Braun had struggled against Quintana this season, hitting just .188 but with two home runs in 16 at-bats. On cue, Yelich singled to center, driving in Orlando Arcia with the game’s first run.

“I felt great,’’ Quintana said.

Reliable right-hander Jesse Chavez replaced Quintana to get three outs on 10 pitches, but it was fair to wonder whether Maddon began taxing his bullpen an inning earlier than necessary with the playoffs looming.

“We actually have a lot of guys who can go (Tuesday),’’ Maddon insisted.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell, the likely NL Manager of the Year, reiterated the dependence on relief pitching in the postseason by pulling starter Jhoulys Chacin in the sixth after 75 efficient pitches. Chacin gave up only one hit, Rizzo’s home run. Nobody else touched the right-hander with the nasty stuff.

Come to think of it, nobody else in the Cubs lineup really threatened anyone at all. Javier Baez raised hopes in the sixth facing former White Sox reliever Joakim Soria. With two on and two out and the score tied at 1, Baez went down swinging on a high 94 mph fastball that he couldn’t resist.

Starting pitchers will carry the Cubs only so far in the playoffs. At some point, the hitters must reconnect to restore confidence in this team.